Next camera hype: Olympus E-M1 X

Both Olympus and Pentax have their 100th aniversary coming up in 2019, and both are looking to make a splash with new product announcements for the occasion. The camera that Olympus was rumoured to be working on for its big anniversary has been revealed in quite a lot of detail already. The name currently circulating is OM-D E-M1 X. It will have an integrated grip and therefore be much larger. It will be aimed at professionals and aimed considerably higher than the already pricey E-M1 Mark II. Something else is exciting about it, but before I get to that, take a look at what it will pretty much look like:

The camera will shoot 80 megapixel super-resolution images, and the process will take 1/160 of a second, so the shots are hand-holdable without great computational effort, and slight motion of subjects can also be accommodated. The 80 megapixel figure strongly suggests the sensor will be 20 megapixels – a sensible figure in my opinion. WiFi and Bluetooth will be included.

Further rumour has it that Olympus is looking to eat into the market of the Canon EOS-1D X line, and that this is the reason why the camera in its external design will have the same square aspect ratio as its Canpetitor, with a good grip for switching to, and shooting in, portrait orientation as well as a separate shutter release. The dimensions of the camera have been confirmed as 144.37 x 146.765 x 75.345mm, which makes it just a little bit smaller than the EOS-1D X. As 43Rumors showed, it’s also a little larger than an E-M1 II with its battery grip attached.

The target market of “sports and wildlife photography” has been mentioned, and wildlife is an obvious home base for the 4/3 system as the high crop factor works to Olympus’ advantage there. The sports angle implies that the camera will have very good autofocus, something that mirrorless cameras are still struggling to be quite perfect at, and where DSLRs such as the Nikon D500 and D5 are still leading the field.

2019 will be an interesting year for the camera industry, with many companies having made big bets in recent product releases. Olympus is following the general herd towards the top end of the market. Let’s hope for them that there’s some air left up there.